Negotiating the Epistemologic Implications of Oenophilia

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You may remember my recent post about Dante Alighieri and the Florentines’ attempt to bring his remains back to their city by rescinding his exile. According to a report published today in the Italian daily Corriere della Sera, the motion to rescind the exile was approved by the Florence city council but Dante’s descendant, winemaker Pieralvise Serego Alighieri, has refused to accept the Golden Florin, the city’s greatest honor. Dante (left) was exiled in 1302 and died in Ravenna, where his tomb remains a popular tourist attraction.

“When I see things like this, I pray to heaven that they will leave poor Dante in peace,” said Serego Alighieri, the 20th and current generation of Dante Alighieri’s family. “That’s why I thought the Florence ‘full rehabilitation’ initiative was good. But even on that front, things didn’t go so well: at the city council meeting where they were supposed to rescind the 1302 banishment decree, the measure passed with just one vote. It was approved but by just a small margin and it was immediately sullied by base controversies that touched even me — and I have nothing to do with the whole affair. It got to the point that I decided not to accept the Golden Florin.”

It is absurd that because someone, against the good will of the majority, says something negative this great act cannot be completed. In general, Italians take offense at the slightest thing and they get stubborn about it. However, when it is time to give credit to non-Italians for something they had the opportunity to do for 700 years, then they duck and try to ignore the good will of others. The case is that the idea of pardoning Dante from his exile from Florence did NOT start in Italy nor by an Italian. It started in the United States by someone that has not only started a wave of Dante’s Divine Comedy resurrection, but also has been advocating Dante’s pardoning for a few years. The first step that got Dante’s pardoning is posted here: http://masterfilmsproductions.blogspot.com